WHO launches suicide prevention campaign in Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the launch of a suicide prevention campaign in Africa, a region that it claims has the highest suicide death rate in the world.
Africa “is home to six of the ten countries with the highest suicide rates in the world,” he continues. The most widely used means are “hanging, pesticide poisoning and, to a lesser extent, drowning, using a firearm, plunging into a vacuum or overdosing drugs”.
This situation is explained “partly by the limited means of action available to treat and prevent risk factors, including mental disorders”, the text adds, according to Africaradio.
The prevention campaign is being launched on World Mental Health Day, October 10. The campaign, which is being conducted on social media, “aims to reach 10 million people in the region,” according to WHO Africa.
According to the same source, the aim is “to raise public awareness and mobilize support from governments and policymakers to give more attention and funding to mental health programs”.
“Primary health care professionals are being trained in Zimbabwe as part of a WHO initiative,” the statement said.
In Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, “advocacy is underway to mobilize resources”. WHO also added that it was providing support to Cape Verde and Côte d’Ivoire “to carry out a national analysis of the suicide situation”.
